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Barbados BarbadosIsland

Barbados

435 km² of land in the Caribbean Sea.

When to go

Barbados seen from space, cut out from the sea (Sentinel-2)
BridgetownWhite HillSpeightstownOistinsBathshebaHastingsMile and a Quarter
N 5 km

Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.

In numbers

435km²

Area

111km

Coastline

222m

Highest point

303,431

People

29°C

Warmest sea

September

349km

To the mainland

When to go to Barbados

Best for the beach from January to April.

The sea is warmest in September (29 °C) and coolest in February (27 °C). You can swim comfortably all year (21 °C or more).

Sea temperature (the water level) Air: night low to afternoon high Wet days Best months

Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.

Main island of Barbados

Barbados is an island in Barbados. It covers 435 km², with 111 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 222 m. About 303,431 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 349 km away.

Read more on Wikipedia

Getting there

Plan the trip

Ferries, stays and things to do

Car hire at BGI airport (Bridgetown)Discover CarsSee 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

On the island

What you find on Barbados.

  • 104beachesMorgan Lewis Beach, Walkers Beach, Brandons Beach and 101 more
  • 21viewpointsHackletons Cliff, Cuckold Point, Cherry Tree Hill and 18 more
  • 6lighthousesSouth Point Lighthouse, Needhams Point Lighthouse, Harrison's Point Lighthouse and 3 more
  • 5marinasPort St. Charles, The Careenage, Shallow Draft and 2 more
  • 1named peaksMount Hillaby
  • 2castles and fortsSt. Anne's Fort, Fort Charles
  • 14ruins and archaeological sitesLittle Harrismith, Orange Fort (Site of Ruins), Fort Denmark (Site of Ruins) and 11 more
  • 2dive centresSpearfishing & Freediving Barbados, Barbados Blue
  • 1waymarked walking routesBarbados Trailway
  • 1campsites
  • 209hotels, guesthouses and apartments
  • 448restaurants, cafés and bars

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Barbados in our other atlases

Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Barbados, each with its own numbers.

  • 39beaches and covesCoastya
  • 10mountainsPeakyas

  • Highest point

    340m

    Mount Hillaby

    prominence 340 m · according to Peakyas

  • Beach with the warmest sea

    29.0°C

    Maxwell Coast

    sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya

39 beaches

on Coastya, the beach atlas

  1. Heywoods Beach29.0°C
  2. Maxwell Coast29.0°C
  3. Worthing Beach29.0°C
  4. Crane Beach29.0°C
  5. Crane Baycove29.0°C
  6. Palmetto Baycove29.0°C
  7. Rockley Beach29.0°C
  8. Lakes Beach29.0°C

31 more on CoastyaOpen Coastya ↗

10 mountains

on Peakyas, the mountain atlas

  1. Mount Hillabyprominence 340 m340m
  2. Hackletons Cliff279m
  3. Farley Hill232m
  4. Chalky Mount220m
  5. Congor Rocks104m
  6. Pico Teneriffe100m
  7. Christ Church Ridge87m
  8. Cowpen Rock41m

2 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

The shape of the land.

On average the island stands 104 m above the sea. 84 % of it is below 200 m.

  • 33 %0–50 m
  • 51 %50–200 m
  • 16 %200–500 m

Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).

Size, for real

Next to islands you may know.

Barbados435 km²
Madeira Island742 km²
Malta247 km²

20 km

All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).

Towns on the island

  • Bridgetown98,511 people
  • White Hill5,139 people
  • Speightstown3,634 people
  • Oistins2,285 people
  • Bathsheba1,765 people
  • Hastings1,500 people
  • Mile and a Quarter1,382 people
  • Holetown1,350 people
  • Six Cross Roads1,005 people
  • Crane935 people
  • Greenland623 people
  • Welchman Hallno census figure

Month by month

The weather on the island.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon high (°C)272727282828282929292828
Night low (°C)262626262727272828282727
Sea (°C)272727272828282929292828
Rain (mm)34191928527274959813210749
Wet days84561015182019221811
Sun h/day8.48.99.18.98.67.98.48.58.27.67.78.2
Wind (km/h)282826262628262219212427

Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.

Recent years

Warmer and cooler years at sea.

Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2020+0.6+0.5+0.4+0.4+0.5+1.1+0.9+0.5+0.8+0.3+0.1+0.4
2021+0.6+0.3±0.0±0.0±0.0+0.1±0.0+0.3+0.7+0.5+0.1+0.3
2022−0.1+0.1±0.0+0.2−0.2+0.1+0.2+0.3+0.3−0.1−0.1−0.1
2023−0.2−0.1+0.1+0.1+0.3+1.0+1.0+1.1+1.2+1.1+0.8+0.7
2024+1.1+1.1+1.4+1.5+1.5+1.4+1.3+1.3+1.4+1.5+1.5+1.0
2025+1.0+0.9+0.7+0.4+0.6+0.1+0.5+0.7+0.7+0.8+0.3+0.2

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Photos

Seen by visitors.

Bathsheba, Barbados 08
Postdlf · CC BY-SA 3.0
066a Britannia in Port of Bridgetown at night - Barbados - 3 1 - V-P
Virtual-Pano · CC BY-SA 4.0
Bridgetown barbados parliament building
regani · Public domain
English Quakers Tobacco Planters and Slaves, Barbados, 17th cent. (colorized)
Pieter van der Aa / Carel Allard · Public domain

Nearby

More islands nearby.

Culpepper IslandBarbadosBarbados0.00 km²18 m9 km awaySaint LuciaSaint LuciaSaint Lucia640 km²866 m179 km awaySaint VincentSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesSaint Vincent and the Grenadines346 km²1,220 m182 km awayBequiaSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesSaint Vincent and the Grenadines16 km²148 m185 km awayGrenadaGrenadaGrenada314 km²840 m261 km awayMustiqueSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesSaint Vincent and the Grenadines5.6 km²32 m182 km awayCanouanSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesSaint Vincent and the Grenadines7.7 km²4 m201 km awayTobagoTrinidad and TobagoTrinidad and Tobago301 km²600 m245 km away

About these numbers

Names, area, populationWikidata (Q30151210) · CC0
Outline© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Sea temperatureNOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020
ClimateNASA POWER · 1991–2020
Relief, 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
TownsGeoNames · CC BY 4.0
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfallsCoastya, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.You are here
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit